8 Random Things About Me

Blog memes are the chain mail of contemporary communication. (Younger readers may not know what chain mail was, and older readers may have forgotten. We used to get actual letters, photocopied and sent to us, with notes at the top or bottom from our friends telling us to add our favorite recipe or answer a few innocuous personal questions, and to forward it on to 5 or 8 friends. Some would do it, and all of us would read through the list of the letter's ancestors, which would always include a few famous people who had participated. Real letters with stamps and inked paper. It seems so precious and quaint, in hindsight . . .)

Anyhow, blog friend and real friend Spyder has tagged me with the task of listing 8 random things about me. I'm tempted to ignore the challenge, since compliance feels a little narcissistic, but I don't want to upset her further after her fawn got hit on the road in front of her property. But, unlike her, I won't write about sex. (That traffic spike is my gift to you, Spyder.) So here goes:

1. I got a "B" in diversity. The only thing between me and a 4.0 in the MPA program I finished last year was a one hour class in diversity, and I didn't put in enough time on the final paper. Or maybe it was the joke I told in class . . .

2. I can't drive a stickshift. Never learned.

3. I didn't vote in the first Presidential election in which I was eligible to vote, and Reagan won. I've carried the guilt ever since.

4. For my next trip abroad (probably 2009 or 2010), I want to go to Istanbul.

5. The best beer I have ever tasted, I made. It was a belgian dubbel, and it was spectacular.

6. In my entire baseball and softball career, I only hit one homerun.

7. I've only sung karaoke once in my life, in a basement bar in Bolivia. I sang "Danny Boy", "Piano Man" and an a capella version of "My Funny Valentine". I was brilliant.

8. I won the k-8 school spelling bee in 4th grade, but I lost in the final round of the city spelling bee on the word "forsythia". Or is it "forsithia"?

Now I'm supposed to "tag" 5 other bloggers, but I think I'll pass on that opportunity. I'd love to see some of the commenters share 8 random things about themselves, though . . .